Build Title: Vorcha Butcher

Class: Vorcha Sentinel

Power Evolutions:

Bloodlust: (4) Health Regeneration, (5) Weapon Damage, (6) Health Regeneration

Flamer: N/A*

Cluster Grenade: (4) Force & Damage, (5) Max Grenades, (6) Force & Damage

Vorcha Resilience: (4) Weapon Damage, (5) Power Damage, (6) Weapon Damage*

Fitness: (4) Melee Damage, (5) Martial Artist, (6) Melee Synergy

*If you really think you need Flamer, you could drop rank 6 of Vorcha Resilience and put those points into Flamer.

Weapons:

The M-358 Talon, and a heavy or medium shotgun of your choice. Your cooldown makes no difference, positive or negative, as you have no skills that would otherwise rely on it. As for weapon choice, the M-358 Talon with the Pistol Heavy Barrel or Pistol Extended Barrel and Pistol Piercing Mod is very effective against enemies with armor, like Brutes, Banshees, and Guardians. (More about killing these later.) The Talon is so important I consider it an essential part of my playstyle with this character. Any shotgun you have will suffice as a secondary weapon, though I like the M-300 Claymore as an anti-health counterpart for the Talon’s armor-shredding ability. I use the Shotgun High Caliber Barrel and the Shotgun Blade Attachment, though you can switch out the latter for an attachment of your choice. The Reegar is a good choice as well, with Shotgun High Caliber Barrel and Shotgun Shredder Mod. You can exchange the Talon for a Paladin or Carnifex with the same mods if you don’t have one.

Gear:

N/A; but Shock Trooper Upgrade is a good choice.

Strategy:

The Vorcha Sentinel, along with the Vorcha Soldier are by far my favorite of the Rebellion DLC character kits. Their Bloodlust ability, specced for maximum health regeneration, allows for incredible survivability. This also features a stacking mechanic that increases movement speed, health regeneration, and melee damage. This makes for an incredible melee-oriented class suitable for both Silver and Gold.

When you begin the match, immediately turn on Bloodlust. You don’t need to and shouldn’t turn it off at any point during the match, as there is no detonation function like the other Sentinels’ Tech Armor or the Krogan Vanguard’s Barrier.  Your standard tactic is very simple: Use your heavy melee to begin your combo on trash mobs (including Cerberus Nemesis and Centurions, Reaper Mauraders, and Geth Rocket Troopers) followed by a flurry of standard melees if the target does not die from the initial blow. Like a Vanguard, be very leery of running into groups and biting off more than you can chew without your health being full. Don’t be afraid to use your evasion moves to get away and take a short breather in cover while your health comes back.

Finally, there are the enemy units that are a bit more dangerous than your standard Cannibal or Assault Trooper. These are the enemies with one hit kill abilities (Banshees, Brutes, Ravagers, Phantoms, and Atlases) or are simply tougher than their ilk (Guardians, Geth Primes, and Geth Pyros) or can simply dispense a turret that hurts like a freight train (the Combat Engineer). The large Reaper units, Geth Primes, and Atlases you either want to not engage at all or engage from the back with your gun while they are distracted by your squadmates. The most important vulnerable places on the Atlas are the exhaust fan on the back and the armor plating that can be destroyed on its shoulders and groin. (That’s right, shooting a mech in the groin does more damage. Who knew?) Since the recent patch, shots to the canopy also count as boss headshots, for an additional 40.00% damage.

For Pyros, Guardians, and even Primes to a lesser degree, take out your armor-piercing pistol and fire away at their vulnerable bits. For Pyros, this is the fuel tank on their back and for Guardians this is the letter box gap in their riot shield’s front. Getting behind a distracted Guardian and mauling him to death also works. Combat engineers are easy prey to you, as long as they do not have their turret nearby. If they do, either throw a grenade at it to soften it up or take out your pistol to blast it to bits before you pursue its attached Engineer. Every engineer (especially ones placing their turret) you see should be a high priority because any single sentry turret can and will chew up your entire squad if given the chance. Their backpacks, like a Geth Pyro, will explode if you shoot at them long enough and a few well placed Talon shots will do the trick nicely.

Finally, for Phantoms you do not want to duel them in melee range, as tempting as it may be. It is very possible that they will either down you or use their sync-kill on you, making you useless for the rest of the wave. Rather, back up a bit and take a moment to line up a solid headshot with your shotgun. Remember that phantoms need to have used a melee attack before they use their sync-kill and that one of their acrobatic evasion leaps counts as part of this required pre-finish melee. The same goes for Ravagers, whom you want to engage in melee even less, due to the fact that they almost always have an escort of trash mobs that can take you down quickly. Just like any other sync-kill unit, stay back and use your pistol to attack its damage multiplier zones. For reference, the easiest of these to access is the green stuff behind its central sac.

Also, even though you will be running like a fiend around the map for most of the game, it is important that you are a team player during objective waves. Revive teammates and help them in the hacking circle. If there is a nearby hack point, use it or protect the person who is. Stick with your team during the later waves and remember that you should be using missiles to protect the squad, not to speed along the wave. You can stop squad mates being killed by sync-kill enemies (Phantoms, Atlases, Brutes, Banshees, Scions and Praetorians) with missiles if you are quick, but the Banshee and Praetorian are the only ones this is truly feasible on thanks to the launcher’s draw time. Remember, you are very tough thanks to your constant health regeneration from Bloodlust and that you can exploit that to your advantage.

N00b Rating:

3 – Despite the mobile and aggressive style of this class it is critical that you play intelligently and make good decisions.

-Edits by CoreyImperia